1. Field of the Invention
The present invention is directed generally to mobile electronics and communications, and, more specifically, to a mobile unit and system having integrated mapping, communications and tracking.
2. Description of the Background
There is an absence in the currently available technological arts of a single device and system that can readily track, locate, and allow communications with, persons and assets “in the field” during wartime or first responder circumstances. Instead, forces operating as first responders or in wartime may be subject to communications theft, communications breakdown, information theft, or lack of knowledge with regard to assistance or other friendly force positioning. Further, such forces presently have no way of tracking the status of fellow forces or important assets.
Rather, such forces are presently asked to carry a myriad of electronic devices to account for contingencies, such as to account for breakdown in a primary communications type, or such as to navigate in ill-defined geographic regions. Such multiple electronic devices may prove larger than is desirable, and may, due to the size and number of such devices, prove cumbersome and generally disadvantageous to forces that are preferably highly mobile.
Thus, a need exists for a mobile, handheld device and system that allows such forces to avoid the disadvantages of carrying multiple electronic devices that, even in combination, fail to carry out desired functionalities, and the need exists to provide such a device and system in a single, optimally sized and configured unit that is readily accessible to command and control users, but only to properly authorized command and control users.